Paper feeding mechanism



Feb. 1, 1938. E1. REHNGR UBER PAPER FEEDING MECHANISM Fil ed Ju.

13 19, 1932 2 SheetS -Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Feb. I, 1938. E, REWGRUBER2,107,128

PAPER FEEDING MECHANISM Filed July 19, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IWE TORAi'ToRN EY Patented Feb. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE raraaFEEDING MECHANISM Engelbert Reingruber, Vienna, Austria, assignor,

by mesne assignments, to International Business Machines Corporation,New Yorln'N. Y.,'a corporation of New York Application July 19, 1932',Serial No. 623,365 In Germany July 20, 1931 12 Claims. (Cl. 235-613) Thepresent invention relates to record cona designation in the form such asa perforation trolled machines in general and more particularly having apredetermined location in the form.

to machines of the type used in compiling ac- Anotherobject is-toprovide form feeding mechcounting and statistical data as, for instance,anism the operation of which is initiated by the the well-knownHolierith electric accounting magroup control mechanism as a consequenceof chine wherein perforated record cards control a change in the groupnumbers and terminated the operation of the machine. under controlof'the form itself as by a hole hav- The broad object of the presentinvention is ing a given location on the form.

to generally improve the construction and opera- A specific object is toprovide form feeding tion of machines of the above type whereby tomechanism operated by amotor individual to said 10, increase theirefficiency, promote greater reliabilmechanism and jointly controlled bythe form ity and flexibility of operation; and make them itself andeither the total taking mechanism or more convenient to operate. a thegroup control mechanism.

Machines of the Hollerith type commonly have Various other objects,advantages, or features embodied therein accumulating mechanism conofthe present invention will be pointed out in 15 trolled by theperforated records, mechanism for the following description and claims,or will be taking totals from the accumulating mechanism clear after astudy thereof and of the accompany- -under control ofthe latter, andprinting mechaing drawings. nism which is usually adapted to becontrolled In the drawings:

2o by both the records and the total taking mecha- Fig. 1 is a diagramshowing the electrical connism to print items and the totals thereof ona nections of theinvention. suitable record material such as acontinuous Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the -web of paperor on blank forms. The forms may printer unit and shows the manner inwhich the be either of predetermined lengths or variable form feedingmotor is attached to the main length. Special form feeding mechanism ischine. I usually desired and has been provided in some Fig. 3 is a viewof several connected blank machines to properly feed the forms intoposiforms such as may be used in connection with tion to receiveimprints from the printing mechthe present invention. I

anlsm. a Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section showing so v Matchineslilcle the wall knogn llllollez'tifh :c- 112%: mleghrgggalcglnstrgicttilonl (I); :grtaiin parts of coun ng mac ne are 0 en eq ppew au 0- a 0 0 gr p n r0 e an sm. matlc group control devices ormechanisms which b "Ii'he present ingentiqrigwitll b: lesclzribed as1e3- compare classification or group numbers. 0 ied n a mac ine i e haisc osed in A form of such group control mechanism is deters Patent No.1,762,145 and equipped with autoscribed and claimed in application.Serial No. matic group Control mechanism Similar in H 227,127 filedOctober 1% 1927, by James W. Bryce ciple to that (iiesciibed in the1glatecrlit mentioneg now Patent No. 1,933,308. The mechanism deabove.In or er 0 simpl y e rawings an scribed in said application is capableof causing tlescrigivi'iifini3 thde auiignaattilc group gonltirol;mtecglafrom one to three totals to be printed when a n Sm e escr e ere nan i us ra e in 40 change occurs in from one to three classification thedrawings as limited t ajor a d or co 40 numbers tigol only, that isiltofunctioning as a cgnseiquincf1 .An object of the present invention is toprovide 0 one W0 0 anges n gmup ea a novel and improved feedingmechanism for the 135 23 1 2; g gg v g gf g g as m the 43 record sheetslsed m machmes of the aboye type" Before proceeding with the descriptionof the Another obJect is to provide mechanism for b n f 1 tie be ftomatically feeding forms or predetermined invention a 8 exp n w] given0 an the operation of the circuits of the machine as a lengths ofcontlmious. of record material whole. In the following description itwill be Position lmprmts fmm'the Print understood that certain camcontacts designated '0 mechanism with the letters T, L, and c areoperated by A specific is Provide mechanism for the tabulating motor,while contacts designated feeding forms into position to receiveimprints P or LP are operated by the reset motor The I ir sp of Whetherthe forms are of p e timing of these various contacts will be brieflytel-mined length or of variable lengths and under given wherevernecessary in the description of a control of the form itself through themedium 0f the circuits which follow,

The tabulating machine includes accumulating mechanism and associatedtotal taking mechanism which are of well known form and may be likethose disclosed in Patents Nos. 1,822,594 and 1,762,145, for instance.Since the above mechanisms are well known in the art only brief mentionwill be made of a few of their controlling parts purely for sake ofidentification and completeness.

Only one accumulator is illustrated in Fig. 1, but it will beunderstood-that several are usually present in the machines as commonlyconstructed. The single accumulator is designated generally by thenumeral 4 and comprises a plurality of denominational orders eachincluding a plug socket 5, a counter magnet 6, a printing magnet 7,control contacts 8, 8a, respectively, and total printing contacts 9. Thelatter have a common connection through zero button contacts 9a to theleft line wire while the contacts 8 and 8a are connected to magnets 6and 1, respectively, the latter having a common connection to the rightline wire through non-list contacts NL-l, cam contacts LP-l and uppercam contacts P--2.

The sockets 5 may be connected by plug wires to plug sockets associatedwith a given group of lower brushes to' permit the counter magnets 7 tobe actuated according to the value of indexpoint perforationsrepresenting items. When a lower brush senses a perforation in a cardcolumn one of the magnets 6 will be energized to open contacts 8 andclose contacts 8a thereby effecting clutching of a counter wheel to itsdrive shaft for differential movement in a well known manner and asdescribed in the above patents. Closure of contacts 8a energizes theappropriate printing magnets 7 to cause printing of items from thecards, provided the non-list switch NLS in parallel with contacts NL-lare closed as described in Patent N 0. 1,762,145.

During total printing operations contacts 9 close at points dependingupon the amounts accumulated on the associated counter wheels and.control the magnets 1 to print the total in a well known manner. Thezero button contacts 9a may be closed either manually or automaticallyby a zero button magnet as described in the Bryce patent.

The tabulating mechanism is driven by the tabulating motor TM which iscontrolled through a motor control relay MC. The latter is controlledthrough the automatic control unit hereinafter to be described. Thecircuit for said motor TM extends from. the left line wire in, throughsaid motor, the tabulator clutch magnet it, the motor relay l2, startkey ST, the contacts MCC oi the relay MC, the stop key SP, and the camcontacts P-3 to the right line wire l3.

The motor TM is of the two-speed type described in Patent No. 1,762,145,consequently, it will not be described in detail here. For a morecomplete description of such motor and its associated control circuitsreference may be had to said patent.

The machine is provided with upper card lever contacts UCL which controlthree card lever relays UCL-l, UCL-2, and UCL3, respectively; saidrelays and the contacts UCLC being in series across the line wires l0,l3. The functions of these card lever relays will be brought out moreclearly hereafter in the description of the automatic control unit.

The total taking and resetting mechanism is driven by a reset motor RMwhich is adapted to be operatively coupled to said mechanism through themedium of a clutch (not shown) controlled by a magnet H. The motor RM isstarted from a circuit extending from line wire I, through said motor,clutch magnet H, contacts II, the starting key RS and the cam contactsL--! to the line wire I3.

The contacts l5 are controlled by the tabulator clutch magnet II and areso arranged that said contacts l5 are opened whenever the magnet l I isenergized to clutch the tabulating motor to the tabulating mechanism.The clutch and the contacts I 5 are described in detail in Patent No.1,600,413.

For the purpose of starting the motor RM automatically whenever thetabulating motor stops there are provided cam contacts LI and a switchis, said cam contacts and switch being connected in series between thestop key SP and a point in the wire connecting contacts I 5 and thestart key Whenever the tabulating motor comes to rest as a consequenceof an interruption in its circuit causing the tabulating mechanism tostop at its home position, cam contacts L-l, closing just prior to thestoppage of the tabulating mechanism, will set up a circuit from theleft line wire l0 through said motor RM (provided the switch I6 isclosed), clutch magnet l4, contacts IS, the cam contacts L-|, switch 16,stop key SP, and cam contacts P-3, to the right line wire l3, therebycausing the machine to go through a total taking and resetting cycle.

After the motor RM has started as a conse quence of the setting up ofthe foregoing circuit causing energization of the magnet 14, contacts I!associated with the clutch controlled by the magnet 14 will close,thereby setting up a holding circuit for said motor through the magnet14 and the cam contacts L-Z. During the resetting and total taking cyclethe cam contacts P| close, causing the magnet M to be short-circuited,provided contacts RCC of relay RC are closed, thereby affectingdisengagement of the clutch for the resetting motor and, when the camcontacts Pl reopen near the end of the total taking cycle, the resettingmotor RM will come to a stop.

The relay magnet RC is in series with the motor control relay MC acrossthe line wires in, it through the upper contacts of the major and minorcontrol relays MJ and MN hereinafter to be described more fully.

When the total taking and resetting mechanism comes to rest at the endof a total taking cycle, the tabulating motor TM may be automaticallystarted as a consequence of the closure of cam contacts P-4 which,through the automatic restart switch I8 and lower card lever contactsLCL bridge the contacts of the motor relay l2, thereby automaticallyrestarting the motor I'M, provided there is a card under the lowerbrushes.

Certain cam contacts designated T--I and 0-3 are provided whose purposeis to maintain the circuit for the motor TM. until the end of each cardcycle where, unless cards are being fed through the machine resulting inthe lower card lever contacts LCL and upper lever card contacts UCLremaining closed, the tabulating motor will come to a stop.

The automatic control mechanism is substantially the same as the oneillustrated and described in the patent of James W. Bryce mentionedabove. A brief description of such control mechanism will be givenherein in order to enable a clear understanding of the present inventionwhich under certain circumstances may be operatively controlled throughsuch control unit.

The function of the automatic control mechanism is to sense changes inthe perforations" into a plurality of sub-groups called minor groups.

If a change occurs only in the minor group the machine will go throughone total taking and resetting cycle during whichcycle the total of thepreviously tabulated minor group of cards will be printed and thecounters retaining the minor totals will be" automatically reset to zerowithout necessarily resetting the accumulator re- 1 taining the majortotal or grand total. When a change occurs in the major group two totaltaking and resetting cycles will be initiated and will take placesuccessively. During the first of such cycles the minor total of theminor group previously tabulated will be printed, thereaftersimultaneously corresponding index-point posithe total of the, entiremajor group previouslytabulated will be .printed and the countersretaining both the major and the minor totals will quired number ofgroup control circuits through be automatically reset to zero.

The machine, as in Patent No. 1,762,145, is

provided with upper brushes. U3 and lower brushes LB which are spacedapart a sufli-cient distance to permit the two sets of brushes to readtions in two successive cards for thepurpose of comparing thedesignationsin said cards to de termine if the group numbers areidentical on both cards.

The upper brushes '03 are mounted on a common bar and connected tocoacts with an insulated brush block 20 which is individually connectedto a plug socket II.

I cam contacts T--2 and T-3, jointly, the lower card lever contacts LCL,cam contacts Tl, P-I.

Each lower brush has a coacting brush block 20a independently connectedto a triple plug socket Ila.

The control mechanism includes a' bank of control contacts and magnets,which includes ten automatic control circuits, each circuit comprises aplug socket 22, normally closed contacts 23, a magnet 24, a suitableresistance, and plug sockets 25. Each magnet 24 is arranged to controlthe opening of contacts 23 and closure of contacts 26 associatedtherewith. The mechanical construction of the magnets 24 and thecontaots 22, 26 controlled thereby is illustrated in acts with one endof a bell crank 22. loosely the left line wire ll through cam contactsT-S. Each upper brush-,

3. 4. It will be observed in Fig. 4 that the magnets mounted on a shaft30 suitably supported. Normally the latches 21 hold said bellcranks inthe position shown in Fig. 4. The other arm oi the bell crank 29 bearson an insulating button carried by one of a pair of contacts 23. Whenbell cranks 29 are latched in the position shown in Fig. 4, the contacts22 will be closed. Nor,- mally a spring it tends to draw the leftcontact 23 to the right Fig, 4, such movement being prevented, however,by bell crank 29. The left contact member 23 has an insulating buttoncoacting with one of a pair of normally open contact 26.

It will be obvious from an inspection of Fig. 4 that energization of anymagnet 24 will cause the coacting bell crank 29 to be unlatched therebyallowingthe spring 2| to draw the left hand contact 23 to the right toclose the contacts 26 and then the same bell crank 29 will move farenough to the right to permit the right hand contact 22 .to spring awayfrom its associated contact thereby opening the contacts 23.

The operation of these contacts, as well as the details of themechanical knock-offs for the armatures and other features are morefully described in Patent No. 1,822,594, consequently, a more detaileddescription is unnecessary herein.

When the machine is functioning under control." of the automatic controlunit the upper brushes UB sensing the columns of the record cards inwhich the perforations representing a group number appear are plugged tothe rein which the perforations representing group 1 numbers a pear.This operation will be more clearly exp ained later after the othercircuits for the control unit have been more fully clescribed.

The contacts 26 are connectedin series and each series connectionbetween adjoining pairs of contacts is provided with a plug socket 22.The lower contact 2. Fig. 1, is connected to one terminal of a switch I!and also to contacts C-l while the upper contacts 26 are'connectedto'the line wire l3 through the contacts of the upper card lever relayUCL|. The switch a is arrangedto shunt cam contacts 0-1 which areconnected across the terminals of said switch, the upper terminals fatthe switch being connected to one of the terminals of a second switch 24and also to cam contacts L-3. The switch 34 is'arranged to shunt camcontacts L-S, which are connected to both terminals of the switch while.the upper terminal of said switch is connected to the right line wireit.

It will be obvious that when the switches 32 and 34 are open the seriescircuit formed by the associated cam contacts Ci, and L! will be inparallel with the series circuit formed by con-' tacts 26.

Associated with the contacts 0-4 is the minor total relay MN, whileassociated with' the cam contacts L-i is the major total relay MJ. I'hefunctions of the relays MN and MJ are to control the circuit through themotor control'relay MC and the reset control relay BC. The commoncontacts of relays MJ and MN are connected to Thus, a" series parallelcircuit across the line wires ill, I: is provided which includes theupper contacts of relays MJ and MN, wire 35, and the relays RC, MC. Itwill be clear that de-energization of either or both of relays MJ and MNwill cause the relays RC and MC to be energized.

The lower contacts of the major and minor relays are connected to themagnets operating said relays which magnets also have a connection tothe cam contacts L3 in the case of the major relay MJ, and the zerobutton control relay 36 and the cam contacts C--| in the case of theminor relay. The lower contacts of the major relay MJ are connected to abus bar 31 through cam contacts LP-S. The lower contacts of the minorrelay MN and the bus bar 31 have a common connection through camcontacts LP--! to the left line wire I0. The contacts 38 of relay 36 arein a series circuit which extends from left line wire 10, cam contactsLP--8, a zero button switch 39, zero button magnet ZB-l, and contacts 38to the right line wire i3. The contacts of. the upper card lever relayUCL--3 are connected in shunt across the cam contacts C-l.

Connected in shunt with the cam contacts L-3 are the contacts of thelower card lever relay LCL-l which is controlled by the lower card levercontacts LCL, said relay LCLI being connected between the left line wirein and the lower card lever contacts LCL.

The zero button magnet ZB-l is arranged to shift a clutch whichoperatively connects the counter resetting shaft (not shown) with theshaft supporting the accumulator wheels of one accumulator for thepurpose of resetting said accumulator or counter to zero in the mannerdescribed in the Bryce patent cited hereinbefore. Since the magnet ZB--land associated mechanism is not directly involved in the presentinvention it will not be discussed further herein, except to state thatits functions are to cause the printing of a total from the accumulatoror counter with which it is associated and the subsequent resetting tozero of the accumulator wheels.

A major plug wire 40 is provided and'is connected to the wire leadingfrom the upper contacts 26 to contacts of relay UCL-i. This plug wire isadapted to be inserted in any of the plug sockets,32 while a similarminor plug wire 4! is provided and has a connection to the lowerterminal of switch 34. When not in use the plug wires 40, 4| may beinserted in unwired sockets 42 and 42a, respectively.

The operation of the automatic control unit while functioning undermajor and minor control will now be-leriefly described.

It will be assumed that the major and minor group numbers will notexceed 5 digits each so that five columns of the record card will beassigned to the major group numbers and five additional columns will beassigned to the minor group numbers.

The lower five plug sockets 2! will be assumed to be the ones associatedwith the five upper brushes UB which sense the card columns contalningminor group number and such plug sockets will be connected by plug wiresto the adjacent five plug sockets 22. The corresponding plug sockets 25to the right (Fig. 1) will be plugged by means of plug wires to the plugsockets 2 I a associated with the five lower brushes LB which also sensethe card columns containing the minor group number. Similarly, the upperfive plug sockets 20 will be plugged to the corresponding plug sockets22 and adjacent plug sockets 25 will be plugged to the triple plug'sockets 2la, which correspond to the five lower brushes reading majorgroup numbers. It is assumed, of course, that the upper five plugsockets 2|] correspond to the upper brushes sensing the columns in whichthe major group numbers are placed.

The switches 33 and 34 will both be placed in open position and themajor plug wire 40 will be placed in the adjoining unconnected socket 42while the minor plug wire 4| will be placed in the plug socket 332between the middle two pairs of contacts 26. By virtue of the plug wire4| the bank of contacts 26 will be split into two groups or sectionswhich will be electrically connected in series but may functionindependently of each other. 6

When the main switch (not shown) is closed the tabulating motor TM cannot be started until two total taking and resetting cycles have beencarried out for the reason that both the major and minor relays MJ andMN are de-energized so that their upper contacts remain closed, therebyconnecting the relays RC, MC across the line wires in, I3.

The first total taking and resetting cycle must be initiated by manuallydepressing the key RS to start the resetting motor RM, as describedbefore. During the first total taking and resetting cycle the camcontacts LP 6 will close and reopen slightly before cam contacts LP-l,with the result the major relay M) will not be energized. However, theclosure oi contacts LP-l will energize the minor relay MN and the zerobutton control relay 36 over a circuit which extends from the left linewire I0, contacts LP-I, the windings of the relays MN and 36, thecontacts of relay UCL-3 and relay LCL| to the right line wire i3. As aresult the lower contacts of the relay MN will become closed, therebysetting up a holding circuit for said relay and the relay 36 through thelower points of the relay MN to the line wire 10 over the circuit justtraced.

The cam contacts LP--6 and LP--1 do not close until near the end of eachtotal taking and resetting cycle, consequently, energization of relay 36has no immediate effect in controlling the resetting of the counterwhich is associated with the zero button magnet ZB-l, assuming, ofcourse, that the switch is closed. At the end of the first total takingand resetting cycle the major relay MJ is still deenergized,consequently, the motor control relay MC and reset control relay RCremain energized, thus, closure of the cam contacts 39-! near the end ofthe first resetting cycle fails to short circuit the magnet H,consequently, the. reset motor will continue to turn for another cycle.

During the second total taking and resetting cycle cam contacts LP8close early in the cycle, consequently, the zero button magnet ZB-i willbe energized and will reset the counter with which it is associated tozero during the second cycle. Near the end of the second cycle the camcontacts LP-6 will close and energize the major relay MJ causing it toclose its lower contacts which will set up a holding circuit throughsaid relay in exactly the same fashion as the relay MN was set up. Sincethe minor relay has been previously energized and its upper contactshave been opened, the opening 01' the upper contacts of the major relayMJ will cause the reset control relay RC and motor control relay MC tobecome deenergized.

the minor relay MN will be again set up in the It will be recalled thatcam contacts P--l close during the early part of each resetting cycle.It is clear that the closure of the contacts RCC near the end of thesecond cycle owing to energization of the relay MJ will cause the clutchmagnet H to become deenergized. The cam contacts P-i will open near theend of the second cycle and interrupt the circuit to the reset motor RMcausing the latter to stop. Since no cards are as yet under either theupper or lower brushes, none of the card lever relays UCL- -I to UCL-3and LCL| will be energized. The automatic starting circuit for thetabulating motor TM will not be established since said circuit is' setup by the cam contacts P4 through the initiated. As a result thetabulating motor will start as described hereinbefore,

During the first cycle the machine will feed one card from the magazineinto a position to close the upper card lever contacts UCL therebyenergizing the card lever relays UCLl to UCL-3 and bringing the leadingedge of the card just under the upper brushes which events occur aboutthe end of the first cycle.

The cam contacts 13-3 and C--l will open momentarily during the firstcycle but will have no effect as the card lever contacts UCL do notclose until after the .cam contacts have recloseol. it is clear that themajor and minor relays'will not be deenergized during the first cyclealthough none of the contacts 26 have closed owing to the lower cardlever contacts LCL being open preventing circuits from being set upthrough magnets 24 as the card lever relay contacts LCL-i, UCL-J, UCL--2hold the circuit through the relays MN, MJ until after contacts Ci, L-3have reclosed.

During the second card cycle contacts UCL3 will be open, consequently,the opening of cam contacts L-3 and C! during this cycle will break thecircuit through the minor control relay MN only. This is due to the factthat a card is not yet under the lower brushes and contacts LCL-i remainclosed and, as before, none of the contacts 26 will have been closed.The deenergization of the relay MN will cause its upper contacts toclose, thereby causing the relays RC andlowerbrushes, however, closureof the contacts LCL and consequent opening of contacts of relay LCL-Iwill have no effect upon the major relay because the cam contactsL-3will have reclosed before the card lever contacts LCL close.

When the tabulating motor TM is deenergized at the end of the secondcycle, the clutch magnet II will become deenergized thereby closingcontacts IS. The closure (if contacts L--l at the end of the cyclecauses the resetting motor RM tofstart automatically in the mannerpreviously manner briefly described to break its upper contacts andclose its lower contacts. Since cards are now under both the upper andlower brushes the motor will automatically restart when the cam contactsP-4 close during the resetting total taking cycle just mentioned.

The machine will now commence to tabulate cards under the power of themotor TM, as long as the group control perforations in the ten columnsassigned to receiving the major and minor control perforationsrepresenting group numbers agree in successive cards parallel circuitswill be established as follows: line wire lil, cam contacts T-5, theupper brushes UB, through the holes designating the group numbers, theplug wires connecting sockets 2| and 22, the contacts 23,

the magnets 24, the plug sockets 25 and the plug wires to the lowerbrushes LB, the cam contacts 'I'--4 and T--2, 'l l-3 jointly, the lowercard lever contacts LCL, and cam contacts T-l, P-3, to the line wire i3.Thus, where all the perforations agree in corresponding columns all ofthe will still be maintained around said cam contacts through thecontacts 26, thus, the relays RC and MC will remain deenergized.

If it should happen that two successive cards disagree as to their groupnumbers, the perforations representing such group numbers will not agreein at least one of the columns of the record card. Consequently, atleast one of the parallel circuits through the magnets 23 will not beestablished, and at least one of the contacts 26 will. remain open.Either one or two total taking and resetting cycles will be initiateddepending upon whether one or more of the lower five contacts 26 or oneor more of the upper rive contacts remain open, respectively.

The failure of one or more of the lower five pairs of contacts 26 toclose signifies that a change has taken place in the minor group numberand has the effect of breaking the circuit through the minor controlrelay MN whenthe cam contacts Ci open during the cycle in which thedisagreement'is sensed. The deenergization of relay MN causes its uppercontacts to close, thereby energizing the relays RC and MC andinterrupting the circuit through the tabulating motor TM. -As a result,the tabulating motor will come to a stop and, due to closure of contactsl5 as a consequence of the deenergization of the clutch magnet El andsubsequent'closureof contacts L-I, the resetting motor RM willautomatically start to carry out one total taking and resetting cycle.

During the last named cycle the accumulator which accumulates min rtotals will be reset to zero and the total will be printed in the mannerdescribed in Patent No. 1,822,594, Also the minor relay MN will be setup in the manner previously described permitting the tabulating motor TMto automatically restart when the single total taking cycle comes to anend.

Thus, it will be seen that a change in a minor group number causes onetotal taking and resetting cycle to take place after which tabulatingoperations will be resumed on the next minor group of cards.

If achange occurs in the major group number, one or more of the upperfive contacts 26 will remain open, consequently, the opening of camcontacts L-3 and C-l will cause both the relays MN and MJ to bedeenergized, since the holding circuit for both is maintained througheither cam contacts L--3 or the upper five contacts 26. As before thetabulating motor will come to a stop and the resetting and total takingmotor RM will again be started. Two total taking and resetting cycleswill now take place. During the. first cycle the minor relay MN will beset up and the minor total printed, and, of course, the accumulatorsretaining the minor. totals will be reset. The setting up of the minorrelay MN during the first cycle will cause the zero button magnet ZBI tobecome energized so that during the second cycle the total will beprinted from the accumulator retaining the major totals and the majorrelay MJ will be set up. At the end of the second total taking andresetting cycle the tabulating motor TM will again be started to resumetabulating of the cards of the group following the'one which has justbeen passed through the machine.

The general circuits for the machine and their operation having beendescribed, the present invention will now be explained in detail.

Fig. 2 illustrates a portion of the left end of the printing unit whichis substantially the same as the one described in Patent No. 1,762,145.Since the specific details of the printer unit itself are not a part ofthe present invention, no further description will be given herein,except to remark that the reference numeral 43 indicates one of theusual vertically movable type bars described in the foregoing patentwhich type bar is controlled by a magnet I and coacts with theimpression roller 44 to print upon the record material 45.

In the present case, the record material 45 comprises a series ofconnected blank forms 46 (Fig. 3). If desired the blank forms 46 may beprovided with preprinted headings indicated diagrammatically by theparallel broken lines in Fig. 3. Naturally the forms will have a certainlimit as to the number of items which may be printed on each and when aform becomes completely filled it is necessary to feed another form intoposition to receive further imprints. Each form is provided with acontrol perforation 41 whose function is to exercise control overtheproper feeding of the forms into printing position, as will beexplained hereinafter.

It is usually desirable after a group of items have been printed on theform to automatically feed the next form into position to receive thefirst item from another group of items and, in order to accomplish thisresult, automatic means is provided, according to the present inventionfor automatically initiating feeding of the form as a consequence of atotal taking and resetting cycle, or as a consequence of a change in thegroup number.

In order to automatically eflect feeding of the form as a consequence ofa total taking and resetting cycle, the present invention provides adriving motor FM, Fig. 2, hereinafter to be termed the feed motor which,through suitable worm and spur gearing, drives a large gear 48 looselymounted on the shaft .49 to which is secured the paper feed roller 44,or platen as it is commonly termed. The gear 48 carries a spring-pressedpawl 50 which coacts with a ratchet wheel 5| secured to shaft 49. It isobvious, therefore, that the motor FM is adapted to drive shaft 48 in aclockwise direction to feed the record mate al aromas 45 to the printingpoint. The ratchet and pawl arrangement provides means whereby theroller 44 may be automatically fed by the usual line spacing mechanismdescribed in the above patents or turned by hand through the medium of'the usual paper feeding knob secured to shaft 49 for the I purpose ofinitially adjusting the first form to the proper pomtion to receive thefirst item of the cards.

The circuit for the feed motor FM is controlled through cam contactsLPI2, Fig. l, which are operated by the resetting motor RM once duringeach resetting cycle and is interrupted through control effected by abrush 52 mounted adjacent the feed roller 44. Coacting with the brush '2is a contact member 53 which is curved at one end to conform to thesurface of the platen 44 and secured at its other end to a part of' theframe work of the printer unit adjacent one end of the platen 44. Thecurved portion of the contact 5! is disposed flush with the surface ofthe roller 44 and so arranged that the left edge (Fig. 3) of the recordmaterial 45 passes between said contact and its coacting brush 4!.

The feed motor FM is connected between the lower contact of a relay I4and the left line wire Hi, the armature of said relay being connected tocam contacts LP-II. The winding of relay 54 is connected between thecontact II and the line wire ID. The holes 41 are so disposed in theconnecting forms 4| that when the first form is positioned in readinessto receive the first entry under control of the cards, the brush II willmake contact with the contact ll through the hole 41 in the first form.thus energizing the relay 54. The energization of the relay 44 causesits upper contacts to close, thereby setting up a circuit from the linewire I 4 through said relay, the cam contacts LPI2 (normally closed) toline wire II. This results in disconnecting the and causing its lowercontacts to close. Since 1 the progressive step-by-step feeding movementimparted to the platen 44 during the printing of items causes the hole41 of the first form to pass out of register with brush II, the relay 4remains deenergized, and the reclosing of the contacts LP-I2 sets up acircuit to the feed motor FM through the lower contacts of relay 44.

The motor FM will begin to drive the platen 44 through the gearingbetween said motor and the gear 48, the pawl and ratchet 4| so that therecord material 45 will be advanced with a continuous motion until thehole 41 on the next form comes into register with the brush II. A

circuit will then be established as before through the relay 54 which,of course, will open its lower contacts and close its upper contacts,thereby interrupting the circuit through the feed motor FM. As a resultfurther feeding of the record hole 51 in the second form moving out ofregister with the brush 52. When another total taking and resettingoperation takes place the same cycle of events will be repeated.

The principal advantage of the present invention lies in the arrangementwhereby feeding of the form may be automatically effected at the end ofa given group of cards through the medium of theautomatic controlmechanism. In order to control the motor FM as a consequence of a changein group number there is provided a relay 55 which is connectedbetween'the upper contacts of relays MN, MJ and the line wire l3 througha switch 56. The contacts of the relay' 55 are connected in parallelwith the cam contacts LP-IZ.

The cam contacts LP-l2 are timed to open momentarily during the intervalbetween the reopening of cam contacts LP-G and closure of cam contactsLP-l. It is clear that when a change occurs only in the minor groupnumber the opening of'cam contacts LPI2 during the single total takingand resetting cycle-which results from such change will have no effectsince at that time the relay 55 will still be energized so that itscontacts shunt the cam contacts LP-|2. By the time cam contacts LP-lclose to set up the -minor relay MN and deenergize relay 55 the circle.

cam contacts LP-i2 will have reclosed.

When a change occurs in the major group numher the opening of camcontacts LPI2 during the first resetting and total taking cycle willhave no effect for the reasons described above. During the secondresetting and total taking cycle cam contacts LIL-ii will close to setup the relay MJ and deenergize relay 55 before cam contacts LP-l2 open.When the latter event occurs the motor PM will be started in the samefashionas previously described since opening of cam contacts LP-IZ atsuch time results in deenergiza tion of relay 55.

It follows, therefore, that a form will be fed only during a major totaltaking and resetting When the switch 55 is open it is clear that themotor FM will be operated once during each total taking and resettingcycle.

The present invention, for sake of convenience in description and inorder to explain the principle thereof, has been illustrated anddescribed as embodied in a specific form and in a particular type ofmachine. However, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited in scope to the precise form or machine selected forillustration as variationsmay be introduced or the invention may beembodied in other machines without departing from the principles hereinset forth.

What I claim is:

1. -A record controlled machine having total recording mechanism,mechanism for feeding a record strip adapted to receive entries from therecording mechanism, means controlledby the total recording mechanismfor initiating operation of the feeding mechanism, and means controlledsolely by a single designation in the rec-- 0rd strip for interruptingoperation of the feeding mechanism at a point determined by the locainsaid strip for interrupting operation of the feeding device at a pointdetermined by the location of said designation in the record strip.

3. A record controlled machine comprising mechanism adapted to sense aplurality of different changes iniclassification data designationsidentifying'the controlling records, record strip feedingmechanism,,means controlled by the first named mechanism asa consequenceof more than one change in classification data designations forinitiating operation of the feeding mechanism, and means controlled by adesignation in the rec- 0rd strip for interrupting operation of thefeeding mechanism at a point determined by the location of saiddesignation in the record strip.

4. A record controlled machine wherein the controlling records arearranged according to major classification groups each subdivided intominor classification groups, each class of group nations respectively,means for sensing changes in both the major and minor groupdesignations, record strip feeding mechanism, means controlled by achange in the major group designations only through said sensing meansfor calling the record strip feeding means into action to feed therecord strip, and means controlled by a control designation in therecord strip for interrupting operation of the feeding means when apredetermined length of record strip has been fed by the feeding means.

5. A record controlled machine having total taking mechanism, recordstrip feeding mechanism, a motor for driving said feeding mechanism,means under control-of the total taking mechanism for initiatingoperation of the motor and means controlled by a designation in therecord strip for interrupting operation of the motor when a length ofrecord strip predetermined by the designation in the record strip hasbeen fed by the feeding means.

6. A record controlled machine having automatic group control mechanismfor sensing changes in classification designations identifying thecontrolling records, record .strip feeding mechanism, a driving motortherefor, means controlled by the group control mechanism for callingsaid motor into operation as a consequence of a change in classificationdesignations, and means.

controlled by a designation in the record strip for interruptingoperation of the motor when a predetermined length of record strip hasbeen fed by the feeding means.

7. A record controlled machine having total taking mechanism; recordstrip feeding mechanism comprising a feeding roller, a driving motortherefor, and over-running clutch connections between said driving motorand the feeding roller; means controlled by the total taking mechanismfor starting the motor whereby to impart continuous feeding movement tothe record strip; and means controlled by designating holes in therecord strip for interrupting operation of the 'motor at predeterminedpoints on the record strip.

8. A record controlled machine having means to take a total, means tofeed forms into said machine, means to drive the form feeding mechanism,means to cause the driving means to operate the feeding means, meanscontrolled by the total taking means for rendering the causing meanseffective to initiate operation of the feeding means, and meansresponsive to a designation in each form for controlling the causingmeans to terminate operation of the feeding means by the driving means.

9. A record controlled machine having automatic group control mechanismfor sensing changes in classification designations identifying thecontrolling records, record form feeding mechanism and driving meanstherefor, means controlled by the group control mechanism for renderingthe driving means effective to drive the form feeding mechanism, andmeans controlled by a designation in each record form for interruptingoperation of the driving means at a point determined by the location ofthe designation in the record form.

10. In a machine controlled by records ar-, ranged in groups, recordform feeding mechanism, a drive therefor, means for automaticallyinitiating operation of the drive at the end of each group ofcontrolling records, and means controlled by a designation in eachrecord form for interrupting operation of the driving means 7 at a pointdetermined by the location of the designation in the form.

11. A machine controlled by successively prosented records representingitems, comprising recording mechanism for making entries under controlof the records, means for feeding a record form to the recordingmechanism to receive entries therefrom, means controlled by the itemrecords for initiating operation of the form feeding means, and meanscontrolled by a designation in said record form and operative when apredetermined zone or space in said form is in entry receiving positionto suspend the operation of the form feeding means.

12. A record controlled machine comprising recording mechanism operablein cycles, means for feeding record forms to said recording mechanism toreceive entries from the recording mechanism, means automaticallyeffective as an incident to a recording cycle for initiating operationof the form feeding means to feed a form, and means controlled solely bya single designation in the record form fed by the feeding means forterminating operation of the feeding means when a predetermined lengthof record form has been fed to the recording mechanism.

ENGELBERT REINGRUBER.

